This is approximate since calculations vary, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% of carbon emissions since the Industrial Revolution have come from destruction of terrestrial ecosystems—wetland destruction, deforestation, degradation of grasslands and so on
Soil, soil communities, root systems, carbonate rock, wood, living plants, and peat in wetlands—all holds carbon
Now consider what plants do for you
The mere sight of plants and trees improves mental and physical health. I won't elaborate much more upon this, the positive effects are incredible and overwhelming.
Trees and vines that shade your home and outdoor areas: reduce the cost of cooling, meaning less electricity is used. Shade reduces the risk of death in extreme heat events.
(Trees also reduce light and noise pollution)
Edible plants (many wild plants and many plants you can grow): provide you with food reducing your dependence on industrial agriculture and cars to reach supermarkets
Community gardens and orchards: creates resilience and interdependence among small local communities, reducing the power of capitalism and increasing the ability of individuals to organize and create change. Makes more sustainable and plant based diets accessible to people for whom they would ordinarily be inaccessible
Compost piles for gardening: less greenhouse gas emissions than result from waste breaking down anaerobically in landfills
No more traditional lawns: much less use of gas powered lawn mowers, weed whackers etc. which are, by themselves, significant contributions to carbon emissions and urban pollution
Crafting and creating using plants: Locally available wild plant species can be used by local crafters and creators for baskets and containers, yarn, fabrics, dyes, and the like, resulting in less dependence on unsustainable and unethical global industries
More people growing and gathering edible and useful plants and using them = larger body of practical, scientific and technological insights to draw from in order to solve future problems
In conclusion: Plants
Articles and websites focus much on feedback loops with bad consequences (such as the Amazon rainforest degradation potentially accelerating climate change).
We need to focus more on feedback loops with good consequences (such as the restoration of a keystone species increasing the resilience of the ecosystem)
One of the most powerful of these cascade effects is this one: anything that increases the stability and safety of a community of people, will increase the ability of those people to act in a positive way and fight against the forces that oppress them
Isolated, scared, constantly threatened people who depend on Buying Product for all their needs = Unable to easily change, most energy goes to survival, cannot advocate for things bigger than themselves
Community of people caring for the ecosystem that surrounds them = Buffered against the threats imposed by capitalism, stronger sense of efficacy, Sharing of knowledge and wisdom instead of individuals struggling to learn from the hostile and dishonest internet, growing some food and other useful plants creates a slight safety net, can organize and therefore harder to defeat
^^^Everything about the ideal of life under capitalism...is made to STOP you from doing this
Whenever you learn something, teach someone else. Especially plant identification. And grow something you can give as a gift to a neighbor.
This is approximate since calculations vary, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% of carbon emissions since the Industrial Revolution have come from destruction of terrestrial ecosystems—wetland destruction, deforestation, degradation of grasslands and so on
Soil, soil communities, root systems, carbonate rock, wood, living plants, and peat in wetlands—all holds carbon
Now consider what plants do for you
The mere sight of plants and trees improves mental and physical health. I won't elaborate much more upon this, the positive effects are incredible and overwhelming.
Trees and vines that shade your home and outdoor areas: reduce the cost of cooling, meaning less electricity is used. Shade reduces the risk of death in extreme heat events.
(Trees also reduce light and noise pollution)
Edible plants (many wild plants and many plants you can grow): provide you with food reducing your dependence on industrial agriculture and cars to reach supermarkets
Community gardens and orchards: creates resilience and interdependence among small local communities, reducing the power of capitalism and increasing the ability of individuals to organize and create change. Makes more sustainable and plant based diets accessible to people for whom they would ordinarily be inaccessible
Compost piles for gardening: less greenhouse gas emissions than result from waste breaking down anaerobically in landfills
No more traditional lawns: much less use of gas powered lawn mowers, weed whackers etc. which are, by themselves, significant contributions to carbon emissions and urban pollution
Crafting and creating using plants: Locally available wild plant species can be used by local crafters and creators for baskets and containers, yarn, fabrics, dyes, and the like, resulting in less dependence on unsustainable and unethical global industries
More people growing and gathering edible and useful plants and using them = larger body of practical, scientific and technological insights to draw from in order to solve future problems
In conclusion: Plants
Articles and websites focus much on feedback loops with bad consequences (such as the Amazon rainforest degradation potentially accelerating climate change).
We need to focus more on feedback loops with good consequences (such as the restoration of a keystone species increasing the resilience of the ecosystem)
One of the most powerful of these cascade effects is this one: anything that increases the stability and safety of a community of people, will increase the ability of those people to act in a positive way and fight against the forces that oppress them
Isolated, scared, constantly threatened people who depend on Buying Product for all their needs = Unable to easily change, most energy goes to survival, cannot advocate for things bigger than themselves
Community of people caring for the ecosystem that surrounds them = Buffered against the threats imposed by capitalism, stronger sense of efficacy, Sharing of knowledge and wisdom instead of individuals struggling to learn from the hostile and dishonest internet, growing some food and other useful plants creates a slight safety net, can organize and therefore harder to defeat
^^^Everything about the ideal of life under capitalism...is made to STOP you from doing this
This is approximate since calculations vary, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% of carbon emissions since the Industrial Revolution have come from destruction of terrestrial ecosystems—wetland destruction, deforestation, degradation of grasslands and so on
Soil, soil communities, root systems, carbonate rock, wood, living plants, and peat in wetlands—all holds carbon
Now consider what plants do for you
The mere sight of plants and trees improves mental and physical health. I won't elaborate much more upon this, the positive effects are incredible and overwhelming.
Trees and vines that shade your home and outdoor areas: reduce the cost of cooling, meaning less electricity is used. Shade reduces the risk of death in extreme heat events.
(Trees also reduce light and noise pollution)
Edible plants (many wild plants and many plants you can grow): provide you with food reducing your dependence on industrial agriculture and cars to reach supermarkets
Community gardens and orchards: creates resilience and interdependence among small local communities, reducing the power of capitalism and increasing the ability of individuals to organize and create change. Makes more sustainable and plant based diets accessible to people for whom they would ordinarily be inaccessible
Compost piles for gardening: less greenhouse gas emissions than result from waste breaking down anaerobically in landfills
No more traditional lawns: much less use of gas powered lawn mowers, weed whackers etc. which are, by themselves, significant contributions to carbon emissions and urban pollution
Crafting and creating using plants: Locally available wild plant species can be used by local crafters and creators for baskets and containers, yarn, fabrics, dyes, and the like, resulting in less dependence on unsustainable and unethical global industries
More people growing and gathering edible and useful plants and using them = larger body of practical, scientific and technological insights to draw from in order to solve future problems
In conclusion: Plants
only things separating us from climate change solutions is Knowledge of the Plants in many cases!
Shoutout to the hackberry tree in our back yard that we think is dead every single spring because it puts out leaves like 3 weeks later than every other hackberry in the area but then later in the summer it's always literally fine
Good evening to the next door neighbor's American sycamore that they bought a lil over 25 years ago as just a stick, which is now like 70 feet tall and extends its branches vastly wide and made sycamore seedlings in every pot and flower bed I have.
She is one of the formative trees of my childhood. I remember, before the neighbors built the fence, sitting underneath her branches in a light rain and staying completely dry because of the protection of her huge leaves
Miss you, grove of black walnut trees that grew behind the hundred year old farm house where I lived as a kid. Last year I tore off a leaf from a tree that grows at the place where the road changes to gravel cut off by a cattle gate, and the smell brought the memory rushing back.
I remember you, white pine. You were easy to climb and so tall I could easily get higher than the second story windows. You tolerated all the contraptions my friends and I rigged in your branches.
I love you, oak trees at the corners of the yard in the house I grew up in; you were like a fortress grove around my home. My mom used to say that all your leaves made her appreciate the concept of infinity -- for no matter how many leaves you shed, they were not infinite.
I miss you, linden tree outside my sister's bedroom. Your leaves were impossibly huge, so it looked like she lived in a treehouse. And as your saplings sprang up every summer, my swing set became like a jingle or enchanted forest. And my mom always pruned the suckers off, anyway, and they made great magic staffs and bows and swords, and, later, wands.
everyone should delete tiktok except this guy i wanna be alone with them
Shoutout to the hackberry tree in our back yard that we think is dead every single spring because it puts out leaves like 3 weeks later than every other hackberry in the area but then later in the summer it's always literally fine
Good evening to the next door neighbor's American sycamore that they bought a lil over 25 years ago as just a stick, which is now like 70 feet tall and extends its branches vastly wide and made sycamore seedlings in every pot and flower bed I have.
She is one of the formative trees of my childhood. I remember, before the neighbors built the fence, sitting underneath her branches in a light rain and staying completely dry because of the protection of her huge leaves
Miss you, grove of black walnut trees that grew behind the hundred year old farm house where I lived as a kid. Last year I tore off a leaf from a tree that grows at the place where the road changes to gravel cut off by a cattle gate, and the smell brought the memory rushing back.
Shoutout to the hackberry tree in our back yard that we think is dead every single spring because it puts out leaves like 3 weeks later than every other hackberry in the area but then later in the summer it's always literally fine
Good evening to the next door neighbor's American sycamore that they bought a lil over 25 years ago as just a stick, which is now like 70 feet tall and extends its branches vastly wide and made sycamore seedlings in every pot and flower bed I have.
She is one of the formative trees of my childhood. I remember, before the neighbors built the fence, sitting underneath her branches in a light rain and staying completely dry because of the protection of her huge leaves
Shoutout to the hackberry tree in our back yard that we think is dead every single spring because it puts out leaves like 3 weeks later than every other hackberry in the area but then later in the summer it's always literally fine
was feeling depressed this morning but it turns out i just needed to spend some time with my plants
@lilyliveredlittlerichboy Three pawpaw seedlings were "donated" to a restoration project on public land in town. Bittersweet to see them go, but hopefully 10 years or so from now, they will be producing fruits for everyone!
I have one left at home, in a pot because it's so little still. Here it is:
Okay so... the public commenting period ends TOMORROW for the USA Forestry Service's planned policies regarding conservation of forest and how forests should be managed. Read about it here.
Many comments have been posted but most of them are form letters, which are next-to-worthless (better than nothing, but still)
An organization I signed up for emails from recently sent out an email asking for more public comments, pointing out that most comments submitted have been the same copy paste over and over. Their solution to this...was to link a tool to create AI-generated comments
THAT IS SO STUPID OH MY GOD.
I don't really know what to do except ask that y'all within the USA please leave your own comments on the proposal, personalizing with how the ongoing health of our forests and preservation of our old growth affects your region and your life specifically.
I'm just really upset that anyone thought using AI for this was a good idea. That could undermine the legitimacy of all feedback that's been posted.
You can post your own comment at the link above, go forth and kick ass (after reading everything on the page providing information and context!)
was feeling depressed this morning but it turns out i just needed to spend some time with my plants
While shark teeth tend to get a lot of attention, it’s the teeth on their skin that you should brush up on! Shark skin is covered in tiny, flat pointed scales that are called dermal denticles—which literally means skin teeth. If you look at a shark’s skin under a microscope, you’ll see that the scales are a series of overlapping teeth that result in a rough texture.
These pointed scales reduce drag on sharks as they swim, making them stealthy and fast as they cut through the water. This jagged texture also keeps fouling animals (like barnacles) from being able to settle on their bodies and slow them down, which is helpful when you’re a speedy top predator.
TLDR: sharks are covered in tiny teeth and this makes them better swimmers. How’s that for a tantalizingly toothsome fact?
I feel so bad for whatever aquarium social media person who posted this who now has to read a million annoying NO SHARKS ARE SMOOTH comments in the notes. A genuine science education post about sharks is not the best place for that meme
So many notes ppl confused by corn wielding Colima dog wait until you see the dancing figures…..blow your mind. Teach you true love
clawfootboy
humankind…what more can I say. I can only aspire to have such deep and rich a human connection with anyone in this life that will be as radiant as a ceramic figural pair of dancing xolos
lovingswamp
They’re also at the center of a roundabout
anielka-ela
Mexican here, fun fact! While we call them “Dancing dogs”, they’re a young pup and an old dog, and the older one is revealing wisdoms right on the pup’s ear.
You’ll recognize the older dog bc he’s got wrinkles!! It’s a wonderful scene!!
Repairing his run-down laptop, the grad student is tempted to obliterate the anxiety-ridden piece of junk instead.
work is disabling; disability is class-enforcing. adjust ur ideological paradigms accordingly
Can someone elaborate?
sure!
work is disabling
- physical labour is a literal strain on your body. historically this has been a given of certain forms of labour, eg, even before the official recognition of disability, mine workers in many parts of the world received disproportionately high wages compared to other jobs because it was understood that your body would break down by the time you were 40-50 and you wouldn’t be able to work anymore. the high wages were for supporting you after that, but they were only present where unions had been able to force this demand on bosses; there’s a reason mine working has historically been a common form of slave or indentured labour. this example is an obvious one (and one i wouldn’t want to rely on for various reasons) but if you’ve worked stocking supermarket shelves, or cleaning, or as a barista, or as a farm labour, you will know that being on your feet for hours on end, the repetitive movements required to complete tasks, the strain of constant attention, these all take their toll
- work environments are stress inducing and long term stress has both physical and mental effects. it can change how you approach other people, how you regulate your emotions, how you relate to social settings. stress can produce strains, it can produce headaches, it can produce tightness in muscles that are can cause injury
- when you need to work to provide food, rent, clothing for yourself, you are not as able to protect yourself from health and safety risks. you are more exposed to disease and to other health risks, depending on the job, and you are less able to effectively rest and recover, thus increasing the likelihood of long term complications
disability is class enforcing
- being disabled is expensive. simply getting healthcare at all can be prohibitively expensive for many people. this is not even to mention mobility aids or other specialised equipment. you may have to spend more on specialised diets or accommodation. you may need to hire personal assistants or other forms of labour to complete certain tasks for you
- there are less jobs that you are able to work. you are less likely to be able to work long term. you are less likely to be able to work longer hours, and your partners may also have to work shorter hours to care for you. you are more likely to be forced into precarious employment or onto benefits which, which available, are pitifully small
- you are more likely to face job discrimination and more likely to face housing discrimination. the housing you are able to get is likely to be more expensive
- you are more vulnerable to abuse, either domestic, or in public, or by the state. this is increasingly the case if you are Black or a migrant or a woman or trans or homeless, etc, and it’s increasingly the case the more poor you become
this is not a complete list, it’s just what i could think of off the top of my head (and i just woke up too lol). i hope that clarifies some of the factors i am thinking of here. feel free to ask if there is anything that is unclear
as promised, the transplanting tutorial
most sources make transplanting sound incredibly difficult, but transplanting young seedlings from areas with sparse dirt, like a driveway or roadside, is actually incredibly easy and can get you some great stuff. Once I worked out the method, i've had a very high survival rate
it took me like a month of trial and error to figure this out so you don't have to.
Feel free to repost, no need for credit
Hey y'all, do you see the plant in the last panel with the 2 spoon-shaped leaves?
This is her now